Transmigration: On the Gossip Front
Chapter 244 True or False First Love 44_1

Chapter 244: Chapter 244 True or False First Love 44_1

The home renovation project was completed within a week, and Zhou Lina had finished her factory entrance exam.

Despite exuding confidence in front of Zhang Shifen and asserting that she would definitely pass,

she wasn’t feeling confident before the exam even started.

After all, the world is never short of smart people.

Fortunately, all her worries dissipated the moment she received the exam paper.

She knew that barring any unforeseen circumstances, she would definitely pass this exam.

It’s fair to say that the entire exam was as easy as could be.

After the exam, everyone was eagerly anticipating their results, wondering if they would get an opportunity for an interview.

Luckily, the factory was aware of everyone’s curiosity about their performance and decided to release the results.

Zhou Lina promptly went to check the rankings; the surprise she felt when she saw her exam rank was immense.

She truly believed she had done well, or at least that she had completed a high-quality exam, but to her astonishment, she hadn’t managed to secure the first place.

Looking at the few who scored better than her, she was relieved she hadn’t claimed she’d do well enough to be number one.

Otherwise, it would have been a huge embarrassment. Glancing at the rankings again, even though she wasn’t first or even in the top three, she was at least fifth.

An excellent ranking that couldn’t be better; no one would scrutinize her for it, especially since she always performed well academically at school.

It was just uncertain which department she would be assigned to, but one thing was for sure—she wouldn’t be going to the worker’s union, as Zhang Shifen worked there and wouldn’t allow her to work alongside her.

Zhang Shifen also breathed a long sigh of relief when she learned of Zhou Lina’s results.

When the results came out, it was a mix of joy and sorrow: a happy occasion for those who passed, and tears for those who didn’t.

Everyone knew the consequences of failing the exam; either someone in their family had to give up their job for them, or they would go to the countryside as part of the educated youth.

Thus, those who passed and got a factory job didn’t gloat.

Zhang Shifen bought some groceries and decided to have a modest celebration at home, "Xiao Na, the final results should be out in a couple of days. You should be working in the financial department."

Ah, working in the financial department? Zhou Lina had also considered which department she might end up in.

She had hoped for a department that wasn’t too busy and didn’t require dealing with all sorts of trivial matters every day.

Unexpectedly, she was assigned to work in the financial department, which was enough to make her want to spit blood.

"The financial department?"

"Why would I go to the financial department?"

Zhou Lina really didn’t understand why she would be sent to the finance department since her family didn’t have anyone working there, meaning no one to offer guidance.

"Last time, didn’t I see someone from the finance department whose daughter, didn’t she participate in the exam? Shouldn’t she be working in finance?"

After all, in that era, finance was considered a decent job for girls.

"This time, there were two children of finance department employees who took the exam, and both failed."

Zhang Shifen knew that regardless of whether they liked the finance job, they had also hoped to stay on.

But unexpectedly, they had performed terribly in the exam.

"You wouldn’t believe their scores," Zhang Shifen really wanted to laugh, "they had claimed their children did very well."

In the end, they received such disappointing results, "Was the exam very difficult?"

It was at that point Zhang Shifen remembered to ask Zhou Lina about the difficulty level of the exam paper.

She was actually asked about the exam papers, and Zhou Lina was speechless, "I don’t think they are difficult."

"If they say it’s hard, it’s because they didn’t study seriously."

"Anyone who studied hard in high school really shouldn’t perform poorly on the test."

Although rankings are important, Zhou Lina also paid attention to the scores and, looking at the list, she really didn’t know what to say.

She truly didn’t understand how some people studied – they could even score in the single digits.

She wanted to ask them seriously if they had come to take the exam in earnest.

Zhou Lina didn’t know, but Zhang Shifen knew a lot, for instance, some leaders, upon finding out, would try to stuff people in through various means.

Thankfully, the current factory director was really strong-willed and wouldn’t give those people any face, while also making everyone think about the exam content.

One could say it was a test paper that incorporated many people’s ideas after careful consideration.

Otherwise, this exam would surely have seen people taking unfair paths to get their hands on the test papers.

Previously, concerning Zhou Lina thinking too much, they had held off on telling her, but now they could share a thing or two with the two kids.

Zhou Xuan was stunned, "Is that really possible?"

Zhou Lina was not overly surprised, "After all, there are fewer positions now, and everyone doesn’t want to be ’educated youths.’ Of course, they’ll try everything possible."

For example, when Zhou Juan and Zheng Weijian left, they must have been very unwilling to go.

If they hadn’t gotten into trouble, they could have signed up for the steel factory’s exam, and if they had passed, they would become official workers.

Wondering where Zhou Juan and Zheng Weijian had gone, it had been a week since they left. Even if trains weren’t fast back then, they should have arrived by now.

Just as she thought, at that moment, Zhou Juan and Zheng Weijian stood on the Loess Plateau, utterly stunned.

"This, this?" They looked out and didn’t see any houses, only a door in front of a cave.

Could it be that they would be living inside a cave from now on? Zhou Juan couldn’t help but grab Zheng Weijian’s hand.

"Is this a cave dwelling?" someone whispered. They knew of such dwellings from textbooks.

They were aware that many people in the Northwest lived in cave dwellings, but what they had seen in books and now faced in reality – the place they would live for a long time to come – was genuinely hard to face.

"Alright, this is your ’educated youth’ compound," said the brigade leader who came to receive them, clearly dissatisfied with the new arrivals.

One who couldn’t work properly, all spoiled, would complain about how hard the work was after just a little effort.

By the end of the year, when it was time to distribute the grain, they would grumble about why their share of food was so meager and cause all kinds of trouble.

Even the local villagers were very unhappy. They were already struggling to cover their own consumption, and yet they had to support these ’educated youths.’

Watching the village chief leave without so much as an introduction, of course, the ’educated youths’ were very unsatisfied, full of complaints.

The ’educated youths’ inside the house, hearing the commotion outside, knew newcomers had arrived and were probably complaining about how bad the environment was here. Well, they might as well wait for them to vent their frustrations before going out.

Zhou Juan looked at the people who still had the energy to complain, and she really wanted to curse, "They are all idiots, don’t they know it’s time to go in and rest now?"

Taking a train in the height of summer was truly unbearable, and although feeling sticky was one thing, it seemed like even their bodies were starting to mold.

Even if they wanted to wipe themselves down on the train, there was no time, "I just want to have a good bath."

Zheng Weijian was also dead tired, "Yeah, I want to bathe and then have a good rest."

In the past, they would go to the countryside to farm, and although it was hard work, at least there was a glimmer of hope.

But this time there wasn’t even a glimmer of hope, not to mention the burden of their parents’ parting words, making Zheng Weijian’s expression very grim.